


starin’ at your eyes (i could stay a while)

by radi6romance



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Coffee Shops, Dinner Parties, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Humor, I tried my best okay, M/M, hire a boyfriend service, rich kids, taeyong is kind of emotionally dumb here but thats okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:08:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25762651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radi6romance/pseuds/radi6romance
Summary: taeyong didn’t expect that he would be hiring a boyfriend two days before a christmas party. but johnny is just so sweet, and so nice, so taeyong hires him again. and again, and again, and again, until maybe taeyong just wants him to be his real boyfriend?
Relationships: Lee Taeyong/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 5
Kudos: 65
Collections: johnyong fest round 1





	starin’ at your eyes (i could stay a while)

“Taeyong-ah, how’s your love life going?”

Taeyong hated calls with his family so much. They weren’t that nosy in person whenever Taeyong went home for the holidays about his life, but they had all the freedom whenever he called home. His mom was the most curious about each little detail that sometimes he had to remove Mark, his roommate, from the apartment before continuing the call. Every year without fail, his mom had always asked the exact same things. Oh Taeyong, do you have a boyfriend? or Yongie, have you found anyone yet? 

“As always, Mama.” Taeyong replied while leaning on his kitchen counter, playing with a stud earring he found. The morning light from the windows illuminated the stud, causing it to sparkle.

“Why haven’t you found anyone yet? Even Donghyuck’s found someone quicker than you.” She was finally comparing him to his younger brother, Donghyuck. Taeyong had nothing against him (except for that one time when Donghyuck pushed him into a glass table on accident) but ever since he started dating right before last year's Christmas, his mother kept comparing the two of them. Taeyong was very close to just saying he already had a boyfriend just to fool his mother for a little bit.

“Well, I actually have found someone, Mama.” Well, oops. Taeyong did not mean to speak that singular thought into existence. He was mentally screaming at himself in the moment.

“Who is it Taeyong-ah? What’s their name?”

Bad idea Taeyong. He didn’t even have anyone to talk about. Could he steal one of Doyoung’s friends? Hmm, possibly. “Can you meet him at the Christmas party? Then it’s easier for all us to meet him.” Taeyong was just wrapping himself into a nice Christmas-themed lie, complete with a nice red bow on top.

“Sounds great Yongie. Look at the time, I have to take out my brownies soon.” His mom said.

“See you..” Before he could finish the rest of his sentence, his mom had hung up already, as was nature for her. Taeyong set his iPhone down on the marble counter, sighing. 

Now, Taeyong had to find a ‘boyfriend’ who would allow Taeyong to take him to a Christmas party with about 30 of his family members. It was hard enough to find anyone near that day, nevertheless someone who wouldn’t be celebrating with their own family. His best luck was to try with one of Doyoung, his best friend, friends, but he wasn’t sure if anyone would let him take them away.

Taeyong heard footsteps coming from around the corner of the kitchen, to reveal his roommate Mark. It was physically impossible to dislike Mark and everyone who’s ever met him could vouch for that. “Taeyong, what mess did you get yourself into now?”

“But I didn’t do anything.” Taeyong bluffed, running a hand through his purple hair.

“I can tell by the look on your face that you did something. Spill.” Mark said, taking a seat in one of the chairs across from Taeyong.

“I..told my parents I have a boyfriend.” Taeyong said.

“But,” Mark said, confused. “You don’t have one.”

“Yeah, I know. That’s the problem.”

“You’re leaving for their house in three days!” Mark said, his mouth open in shock. 

“And I don’t have anyone to take with me? Yeah, that’s the whole problem!” Taeyong said.

Mark sighed and set his arms on the counter. “Ask Doyoung. He normally has answers whenever one of us gets into trouble.”

Doyoung was the most organized person that Taeyong knew. Meeting him in the middle of his junior year was the luckiest thing that Taeyong did. Even if Taeyong barely passed most of his classes, he loved Doyoung with his whole heart.

“There’s no way Doyoung can help me with this.” 

“Just ask him! There’s still a possibility.” Mark said. “And no, you won’t be able to take me.”

“They’ve met you anyway!” Taeyong exclaimed. “They wouldn’t believe that we’re dating at all.”

+++

“Taeyong, what did you do?” 

“Why do you always think I did something wrong?” Taeyong whined as he took a seat across from Doyoung. They always took the exact same table right by the window facing the pretty street. The two had been to this coffee shop a million times and Taeyong would miss this place if he ever left. In A Dream was the best coffee shop in possibly all of the city. 

“You have that look on your face.” Doyoung said. He hated it whenever Doyoung could tell that something was up with himself. Doyoung was naturally like that, an empath. "Yongie, what happened?"

"I...might have told my family I have a boyfriend which I clearly don't have one." Taeyong said, pink filling his cheeks and looked down.

"Why?" Doyoung asked.

"They were a little too harsh on comparing me to Donghyuck." Taeyong said.

After looking up and seeing a frown on Doyoung's face, Taeyong kept speaking. "He's not a bad kid. My family just loves to treat their children as a game."

"That's familiar." Doyoung replied back. "Do you need to take any of my friends? I would even lend you Jaehyun if you really needed to. "

"Doyoungie," Taeyong pouted. "You don't need to give me your boyfriend for this. I'll just ask around my friends and see if they have anyone that's nice enough." 

"Wait, Yong, I might have something for you." Doyoung said, looking down at his phone. Taeyong's eyes went wide and leaned over the table to somehow read what Doyoung was looking at on his phone.

+++

“Taeyong-hyung, I think this is the strangest website I have ever seen." Mark said, a concerned tone in his voice. 

"I mean...it looks real?" Taeyong was doubting this fake boyfriend thing already. He didn't really have a choice, did he? Well yeah, he did. Taeyong could have probably asked one of Doyoung's friends to act a little bit and then go back to seeing each other rarely. That was a better idea than taking a random website that Doyoung said 'worked for his boyfriend's friend'. Doyoung didn't even know the friend's name! How was Taeyong supposed to trust that? 

"At least it's free. You don't actually have to pay until after the date." Mark said, his side smile appearing on his face. Ah, it really was impossible to dislike Mark Lee. He did always look at the bright side of things.

The bright laptop screen stared blankly at them both, sitting on their wooden coffee table. These tables weren't good for anything except holding random books and things they needed to throw away anyway. The 'hire a boyfriend' website on their laptop looked very..designed. A website that looked professional must be good, right? 

Taeyong took a deep breath and clicked on the button that would show the list of 'boyfriends to choose from'. He really felt like a teenager in one of those cheesy 2000's american movies that he would watch with Mark sometimes, looking for a boyfriend. 'It won't work out like that though', Taeyong thought. 'We'll visit my family for a night and go.'

The colorful website's list appeared after a few moments, quite honestly showing a lot of boyfriends. There were a lot of different ages there and Taeyong quickly made sure to remove the men who he was sure were looking for a sugar baby. He would absolutely not go to that area of people.

"What about him?" Mark asked, pointing to a Korean man with beautiful lips. 

Johnny Suh, 25, living in the middle of their city with a job in photography for a local magazine. Or at least, that's what it said on his small profile. Wow, he really was beautiful.

Taeyong's eyes lit up and quickly took the mouse from Mark to click on more of Johnny's profile. 

Johnny had a lot more photos of himself on his profile. One at the beach (The abs were amazing, yes), a picture of him standing in front of a sunrise, and a few at a park. 

"That's crazy, Mark. No way he's actually a real person." Taeyong said, scrolling through more of his profile. Ooh, looks like he lived in Chicago for a while. He knows how to skate? 

"I don't think they allow catfishing." Mark said.

"They could, though." 

Taeyong looked at the hire link, which all he had to do was click on it and set his time for Johnny to come over. 

"You should do it, hyung." Mark said. "He seems like a great guy."

Taeyong thought for a moment. His family would definitely like Johnny. He looked like that sweet guy that Taeyong's family was practically begging him to find. "Well.."

Out of the corner of his eye, Taeyong saw Mark's hand quickly move to the laptop and clicked on the button that said hire, taking them to the page that would have them set a time and the hours Johnny would stay with his family. 

"Mark!" Taeyong said.

"What?" Mark replied back, casually. "If you weren't going to do it, I will." 

Taeyong shook his head with a soft smile on his face. Mark was correct. He would have worried himself up so much about Johnny that Taeyong would have never ended up hiring anyone.

Mark clicked a few more times, his eyes focused on the screen. He leaned back in his chair, smiling.

"Are you ready to meet him?"

"Of course not."

+++

Was it possible for a human being to vibrate with nervousness? If not, then Taeyong was doing something new. It was December 23, the day of Taeyong's aforementioned Christmas party with almost every single person in his family attending.

The one thing Taeyong missed about home was snow. His favorite days in his teenage years was to take a day trip up to one of the mountains with a few of his friends and go play in the snow. It brought back good memories, times of when the biggest problem in his life was figuring out how much money he needed to bring for lunch that day. 

It hardly snowed where Taeyong lived, unless you headed up to the mountains. But Taeyong rarely had time to rent a car and actually take a trip up there himself, nevertheless with any of his friends. He's always wanted to be able to take a trip there, rent a small home for a few days and spend the time with Doyoung. Going sledding and skiing, and ending the day with a nice dinner at a local pizza place.

The snow calmed him down. The way it would fall down slowly, landing on the ground and on windowsills, ready to be played with and admired.

Taeyong wasn't lying. He could really use some snow right now.

"Taeyong!" Mark's voice called out in the apartment. He was probably somewhere in the small living room they had, making some tea or coffee. "Johnny's gonna be here like, really soon!"

"I know that!" Taeyong had actually lost track of time, too worried about which necklace to put on. Why was he so nervous about looking good for his family, when they would focus more on Johnny? Taeyong’s new ‘boyfriend’ who would woo his family and then say that the two broke up just a few weeks later. That’s what Johnny did all the time, right?

+++

Yeah, that is what Johnny did all the time. 

Johnny couldn’t tell you how or why he started working for a sketchy hire-a-boyfriend website a year ago, but it was the right one for him. Money to support himself and his younger brother in a small apartment and time to still pursue what he really wanted to do in life. It was a great find, really. (Except the creepy men and women who would flirt with him. Those would still make his skin crawl whenever Johnny thought about them, even if they happened months ago.)

This job wasn’t too different than some of the other ones. Just someone who needed a guy to come with them for a Christmas party for a few hours. Easy enough. 

Lee Taeyong, 25, and they met in a coffee shop. Easy to remember, easy to go along with it.

It was all easy.

Standing in front of Taeyong’s apartment door (quick to tell, when a chalkboard sign hung in front of it and said “Taeyong & Mark’s! in pink chalk), Johnny took a breath in and calmed his shaking hands. He knocked on the door twice and put on a smile. 

A lanky boy a little shorter than him opened the door in grey sweats, a confused look on his face. 

“I’m Johnny.” Johnny said. Please let this not be Taeyong. Please let this not be Taeyong.

The boy’s face lit up in recognition. “Oh so you’re Johnny! I’m Taeyong’s roommate,” A pause settled over them for a moment. “Taeyong should be out in a moment. Do you like wanna come in? Or are you just okay out there?”

Johnny nodded his head and the roommate, Mark, stepped back to let him come in. 

For the prices of apartments in the city, Taeyong and Mark's wasn't that badly looking. Nice windows with lots of sunlight, good furniture. Better apartment than his and Jaemin's, anyway.

"Do you like, need anything?" Mark asked him.

"No, I'm okay." Johnny said.

God, this really was extremely awkward, wasn't it? Johnny carefully took a seat on the couch they had, trying to make his body as small as possible. He wasn't that used to having to wait in people's homes yet.

"Taeyong! Get out here! That cute boy or whoever is here!" Mark shouted down the hall.

A muffled shout of affirmation came back from the hall.

“He should be out in a second.” Mark said. Johnny nodded his head.

The silence was surrounding the both of them. Johnny didn’t know he could be this nervous around a boy who was at least 3 years younger than him and much shorter. He picked at a piece of skin around his nail for a moment, just to simply not look at Mark anymore.

Johnny’s head turned around when he heard a door quietly open and footsteps coming from down the hall. 

“Hey.” Taeyong said, smiling.

Johnny was in big trouble.

+++

Honestly, this wasn’t one of Johnny’s worst jobs, especially around Christmas time. It might have even been one of his best ones.

The place, first of all, was the most beautiful thing that Johnny had ever seen. Wide windows showed off the smallest amounts of the rooms that you could see from inside. It was amazingly large and had lots of gray trim on the outside of the white house. It was clearly made for someone who could pay millions to live here. It even looked like if you went onto the roof, you could probably see the bay from there. That would be a good place to escape to, if Johnny could find a place.

Taeyong wasn’t lying when in the car, he had said that his family could be uptight and lowkey bitches. Well, Taeyong used nicer words than that to describe his family. Them as a whole, with Taeyong and his brother and the parents, looked like one of those picture perfect rich families. The ones that Johnny had always admired while young. Johnny wasn’t exactly upper middle class, or even wealthy. They just had enough to go by. Meanwhile, Taeyong’s mom was able to buy two houses in the richest parts of the neighboring city and still have a bunch of money left over. Considering that his mother also helped run one of the biggest grocery companies in the country. Yeah, they did have a lot of money left over. Taeyong didn't feel like he was rich. That...that was nice.

Neither did Donghyuck, which was a comfort to Taeyong.

During the ‘party’ (which felt more like one of those fancy dinner parties people out on their patio that Johnny was only invited to once), Donghyuck had ended up staying closer to Taeyong and him, instead of any of the other kids outside. To be fair, they did all seem like they were in their cringy middle school phases or just refused to let anyone else talk to them except for their own friends. He hoped that Johnny wouldn't have to ever babysit any of the kids ever. He hadn’t even realized how many cousins one person could possibly have, considering Johnny had about 3, who all happened to either be in elementary school or were 40 years old.

Donghyuck’s boyfriend felt like the most normal person there. If Chenle, the boyfriend, wasn't dating the next person to inherit one of the biggest grocery companies, then Johnny could have easily seen him working at a Starbucks down the corner from his apartment. Johnny was glad that Taeyong was allowed to not have to deal with anything like that from his family. But he felt bad for both of the kids. They were honestly good people.

The Christmas party had actually started out pretty nicely. Taeyong had told him previously that he didn't want any trouble with his family and not stir anything up, but to just be himself too. Whenever Johnny went on a job, the clients wanted him to do one of two things most of the time. Either to be a untalkative person who was just there as a side piece, which Johnny absolutely hated. Or to make as much mess as possible and cause the person's family to hate him with all of their heart. Johnny hated that just as much, if not more, than the other one. He liked this job. No pretending to be someone he wasn't, at least for now.

The two did their rounds at the beginning, trying to talk to as many people as possible. Taeyong had to show off his 'boyfriend', of course. After all of it, Johnny had made a playbook in his mind on who they were and what was okay to talk about.

Taeyong's three aunts. He liked Doha the most, because she was only about 5 years older than Johnny. Her kid refused to leave her side the entire time Johnny was talking with them. Sora was much older and much more talkative, but she offered Johnny a few pieces of salami, so that was a bonus. Hana was the worst. She almost spilled her wine glass on Johnny and Taeyong. Johnny was this close to yelling at her, but a squeeze from the hand that Taeyong was holding clearly told him not to. 

The entire group of Taeyong's uncles were...annoying to say the least. God, what was it with rich people and alcohol? Just because you have the money to spend on five bottles of wine from the fanciest winery doesn't you should. Other than the fact that they kept offering Taeyong drinks when he clearly looked uncomfortable with it, they weren't actually that bad.

After that is when they had met Donghyuck and Chenle, who offered them a glass of apple cider and an explanation on everyone that was 'outta pocket', which Johnny took full heartedly.

Donghyuck made sure to tell them that one of the uncles was having an affair in LA with a woman who worked at the beach. Johnny made eye contact with Taeyong, who surely had to be concerned but instead he was more interested instead. 

Chenle liked to refer to most of the cousins as 'literal devils' who didn't want to do anything else except yell at each other and get hurt like twenty times. If they didn't even warm up to Chenle, well then. Taeyong had said something else about them, but Johnny was too focused on staring at the scar that he had near the corner of his eye that had no right to be that beautiful. Come on, it looked like a flowering rose!

And then came possibly the most important part of the night.

Meeting Taeyong's parents.

Johnny always had nerves whenever he met any of the clients parents, shaking hands and sweetly palms. He felt strangely more nervous this time for a reason he just couldn't seem to pinpoint. As he was led up the concrete stairs to a higher spot on the patio, Taeyong whispered something in his ear.

"Just five minutes, then we can head inside, okay?" He had said, before leaning back to see Johnny's reaction. Johnny nodded and smiled, prepared for anything.

Taeyong's dad was a level higher than the uncles. His presence felt powerful, but an unexpected kind of power. Like, he had just enough to intimidate Johnny. And that had to be a lot! His dad wore a t-shirt and pants, the most basic thing you could possibly wear, and he still scared Johnny. Taeyong had carefully smiled and introduced Johnny to his father, to which his father pursed his lips and nodded. That was good, right? 

Taeyong's mom was more comfortable but still held the power that her husband had. She wore a smile and imminently started talking to Johnny the moment she saw him. Johnny definitely towered over her, but she seemed to have not noticed it at all. She was the one to ask all the normal questions that Johnny had already prepared a nice long answer. 

"We met at my friend's coffee shop, you know, one of those sweet meetings." Johnny smiled and pretended to quickly remember the nonexistent meeting. His friend did actually own a coffee shop! Johnny just happened to have forgotten that he hasn't gone there in months. 

"Aw, how cute. I can see what Taeyong saw in you very clear." His mother looked to Taeyong, who was wrapped up in this lie as much as Johnny was. 

"Of course, Mama." He said. Johnny failed to notice how Taeyong looked at him for a moment before turning away with the brightest stars living in his eyes. 

The rest of the night passed in a blur for Johnny. Say hello to aunt you didn't know about, eat a piece of cheese, sit with Taeyong on the same couch and be as touchy as they wanted with each other, nod to his uncle that accidentally created a bond with you, repeat. Easy enough for Johnny, that when the time came to leave (Taeyong didn't want to be the first person to leave, but he also didn't want to be one of the last people to leave), he had trouble landing back to reality. He could have easily stayed with this family like it was his own. Johnny and Taeyong said their goodbyes and left as slowly as they had arrived. 

The drive home was practically just silence, even if it was only 30 minutes. Johnny wanted to say something, but didn't know what, too busy focusing on the road. He could tell that Taeyong wanted to say something too, but held himself back. 

Johnny stopped in the parking lot of Taeyong's building, putting the car into park. He turned to Taeyong, who was already taking bills out of his wallet. "Woah, woah, Taeyong." Taeyong looked up, confused. "You don't need to take all those out. I only need a couple."

"But you deserve more." Taeyong went back to looking through his wallet. Johnny tried to speak again but Taeyong quickly shushed him with one finger. 

Johnny glanced out his windshield, staring at the stars above. It was one of the lucky nights, with no clouds or fog, especially in December. It was beautiful, but Johnny couldn't stop thinking about how Taeyong was more beautiful than the brightest star in the sky. God, why was his mind still on Taeyong? This was a one time thing Johnny, he's just going to pay you one time and leave. Easy.

"Here you go." Taeyong held out a stack of money, plus a few coins. "For you."

"You won't take it back if I say it's too much, right?"

"Nope." He said. Johnny took it from Taeyong's calm hands and set it down under the dashboard, near his feet. 

"Well...It was nice seeing you." Taeyong said.

"Uhm..you too." Johnny replied.

Maybe this moment tied for the most awkward moment in his life, watching Taeyong slowly get out of the car and sprint to the entrance of his apartment building. Once he made sure that Taeyong had made it inside, without getting jumped by someone out late on the streets, Johnny went back and checked the money that Taeyong had given him. His eyes widened at the pure amount of bills that seemed to never stop going, plus a piece of paper folded in. He opened it up slowly as to not rip it, just to see messy handwriting that had scribbled down a set of numbers. Johnny smiled and clutched the paper in his hand.

The job might have been easy enough, but falling in love with Taeyong? Now that would be hard not to do.

(And if Johnny went out after that to pick up a meal from the local restaurant along with drinks and five other dishes to bring it home to a shocked Jaemin who quickly became just a little more happier for his brother? Then so what of it?)

+++

It was now the coolest summer month of them all, June. Not the beating hot weather of August or July yet, that always caught Taeyong by surprise. Not yet the beginning of Mark's last year of college in September either. Oh god, Mark almost wasn't the little kid straight out of high school anymore that he was when Taeyong first met him. Taeyong had offered to share his apartment with Mark, and they both equally share the rent, not just because the dorms at Mark's college had horrible structure, or because the rent was concerningly high in the city. Mark just looked so lost and Taeyong wanted to make sure one day that he wasn't going to see that Mark hadn't gotten run over by a car. Luckily he hasn't. (So far.)

June was also Donghyuck’s birthday month. The past few years, Taeyong had luckily been able to escape the family celebrations for Donghyuck’s birthday that normally occurred every year and ended up just being another dinner party. God, he really had no clue how Donghyuck was able to get through that. Around a day or two later, Taeyong would take out Donghyuck and whoever else he wanted to bring with him and they would go out for the day and do whatever they wanted. Pretend to a tourist and go to the pier? Sure. That was only one of maybe three or four times a year he got to see his brother, even if they lived in the same city as each other. Busy schedules, as always. 

This year, Taeyong had been planning to do the exact same thing. Taeyong's mom, however, had wanted to see her son more and so decided to tag along on their day trip this year on the day of Donghyuck’s birthday. What was Taeyong supposed to do, say no? 

Taeyong had a bigger problem that that, however. He still hadn't told his family that he and Johnny had 'broken up' and so, Taeyong's mom wanted to see Johnny again. 

"Just send him a text, dude." Mark said, leaning over Taeyong's shoulder. His phone was open to the few texts him and Johnny had sent each other in the past 6 months, just simple things about how they were doing and whatever. Johnny was just..too busy with his job to text him back, he guessed. 

"It's not that easy." Taeyong said with a pout. 

"Ah, Taeyongie, you're so cute." Mark said. "Just send like, hey Johnny, or something."

"Hey Johnny's too simple." Taeyong said.

"That's why it's perfect." Mark replied back, who then reached out for Taeyong's phone. Taeyong leaned out of the plush chair he was sitting on, getting just out of reach for Mark's arms to grab his phone. "If you don't do it, I will!" 

"As if!" Taeyong held his black phone over his head with two hands, looking up to type something and quickly press send.

"See, I knew you could do it." Mark said, smiling. "Now just wait for him to reply."

"It's probably gonna be at least a whole day. He's a very busy person you know, Mark.”

"You're just making excuses up now, Taeyong. Bet he’ll reply to you in an hour or less.”

+++

Johnny was busy! He wasn’t going to say anything that contradicted that. Handling two jobs and taking care of his brother and making sure that he had all the paperwork for his rented apartment and his car filled out correctly so as to not accidentally commit tax fraud while getting paid about a dollar an hour? (Johnny’s biggest fear was accidentally committing tax fraud and getting sent to jail, of course.) 

Sitting with Yuta in a semi-empty boba shop while stacking medium sized plastic cups? That could count as being busy too. Probably.

“Which one is this?” Yuta asked, carefully twisting his wrist to set another clear cup on top with the shop’s logo printed on it. 

“Twenty-third.” Johnny said, before looking at his phone that lit up with a text. Yuta glanced over to see Johnny’s phone. 

“Taeyong with a pink heart. Real sly, Johnny Suh.” 

“Like you’re any better.” Johnny said and picked up his phone from the table. 

“I’ll let you know that Yuto does not…” Johnny let Yuta’s words fade into the background as he read Taeyong’s text. Hey Johnny, do you think I could hire you for another event? 

Johnny bit his lip in thought and typed back a simple Sure, what time? That worked. What was so important that Taeyong needed to actually text him instead of booking him on the same strange website he did before? He looked back to where Yuta was stacking the twenty-fourth cup who also proceeded to knock all the cups on to the ground in a loud sound. Johnny sighed.

“Yuta, you realize that now we can’t use any of those cups anymore.” 

“It wasn’t my fault!”

“Yeah it was!” 

“No way, it was definitely your fault.”

“Yuta, Johnny,” Johnny froze at the sound of the owner of this particular Gongcha, aka his boss, Kun speak from outside his office. “Pick up those cups and get back to work, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, okay Kun.” Yuta said. Kneeling on to the ground, Yuta motioned for Johnny to come close to him. 

Johnny checked his phone for one more time and saw the most recent text from Taeyong. Tomorrow, at 11? Johnny smiled and quickly texted a thumbs up to Taeyong before getting to Yuta.

“You know,” Yuta said as he passed a cup to Johnny with a small stack of them in his hand, “You could have told me you were hooking up with one of the boys from your other job or whatever.” 

“Yuta, if you don’t shut up right now, I’m going to make you.”

“As if you could.” 

“Yuta,”

“Okay, okay!”

+++

“Haechan, you remember Johnny right?”

Taeyong asked his little brother Haechan, as Taeyong walked backwards as to face the group of about 5 teenagers who were all talking with each other, as well as their mom, who was walking very far behind them but still in earshot of whatever Taeyong was talking about.

“Yeah, why?” Haechan said. 

A boy around the same height as Haechan turned around and frowned. “Who’s that?”

“Taeyong’s boyfriend~” Another teenager said and the group of friends laughed.

“Renjun-ah, be quiet.” Taeyong said, rolling his eyes. “He’s coming today, just so you know.” 

“We get to meet him?” Jisung, the tallest person out of all of them asked. 

Taeyong nodded his head as he opened the door to the busy Gongcha, letting everyone else go inside before him.

“No, no, Johnny!” A voice said that you could clearly hear throughout the busy shop. “Why are the cars and planes sentient but not the tractors?” 

“According to my research, the spaceships in the Cars universe are also sentient.” Johnny’s voice replied back, which made Taeyong visibly confused. “So, there isn’t a reason why the tractors aren’t sentient.” 

“But like-“ The other voice started but cut off to speak to a customer as Taeyong shut the door to Gongcha. 

The building wasn’t too small, but it felt small with the amount of people inside that it was packed. The group of teenagers got into the semi-long line of people waiting to order their drinks. 

“So, Taeyong.” A boy slightly smaller than him stood next to him and leaned close to him. “Where’s your man?” 

“He’s right there, Yangyang.” Taeyong subtly pointed to Johnny, who was wearing an apron and taking someone’s order, smiling. 

“Ooh, Taeyong. You have good taste.” Yangyang said, nodding.

Taeyong sputtered, and widened his eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“I think you understood.” Yangyang said, and stepped away from him back next to Jisung.

Taeyong opened his mouth to speak more, but gave up. Taeyong was incredibly nervous about Johnny around a group of kids, and it showed in his slightly shaking hands. He didn’t mean to, it had just been the first time he’s seen him in a while, you know.

“Hey, Taeyong!” Johnny shouted and waved. The people in line in front of them turned around, making Taeyong look down, embarrassed. Renjun shook his head, smiling and Haechan laughed, bumping into Chenle. 

The other person at the counter, who’s name tag read Yuta laughed and pushed Johnny to leave his spot, which he happily did. 

Johnny quickly untied his apron, hung it up on a pole, and exited behind the counter to come to Taeyong. Taeyong waved, smiling at him. Johnny came over and gave Taeyong a hug, making him look so much smaller in Johnny’s arms.

“Hey, Mrs. Lee!” Taeyong’s mom nodded. “And to the rest of these kids too.”

“Hey, look, you’re as tall as Jisung.” Chenle said, pointing at him.

“I am!” Johnny said. “Are you all ready to go around the city?”

“Come on, Johnny.” Taeyong tugged on his sleeve and sighed. 

“I’m just asking!”

+++

When Taeyong was back in his bedroom that night, he was sifting through the polaroids that Johnny took alone. 

That one was the one Haechan took of Johnny and Taeyong, standing in front of a coffee shop with Johnny’s name on it. It wasn’t Johnny’s coffee shop, of course, but rather some other person in the city with the very common name Johnny. 

In that one, Chenle was laughing at Jisung out of frame, for having lost his pair of glasses while on a bridge. (They were borrowed by Renjun, to see something, but Jisung had easily forgotten. Payback was when Jisung took Renjun’s phone and hit it in Yangyang’s pocket without him knowing.)

Oh, and in that one, Johnny had taken a picture of Haechan and Yangyang, smiling while standing in front of a large statue of a man riding a horse (inspirational, you know). They had gone there while Taeyong was ordering some food at a cafe.

You can’t forget the sweet picture that Taeyong secretly took of Johnny lifting Haechan up and spinning him around in the air, mid shot. The two had spent 30 minutes and 24 dollars trying to win a stuffed saw shark, and Johnny had finally picked it up with the claw machine. After that, Johnny had secretly asked for the polaroid from Taeyong, keeping it safe in his hand. As well, Taeyong glanced over to the end of his bed, the saw shark plush staring right back at him. 

“Johnny’s so sweet, isn’t he?” Taeyong said to the plush. The plush didn’t say anything. 

“Ah…” Taeyong sighed. “You get it, right?” 

The saw shark looked at him, expressionless. 

“Should have known that was coming.” 

+++

Johnny had been invited over and over again.

The third time had been when Taeyong asked him to come to a work party, for Taeyong’s mom’s company. Johnny accepted. That was his best place to ‘be a boyfriend’, you know? He was trained for this. He couldn't do his job as well as before, simply because he stared at Taeyong too much. 

Guess what? Taeyong’s family loved him, just as much as before.

The fourth was when Haechan and his friends just wanted to see Johnny again, so Taeyong took him along again. That was more of a guilty pleasure for Johnny, getting to see and hang out with Taeyong again. Haechan loved him, Chenle wouldn’t unlatch from him, and Jisung would sit next to him. Renjun talked to him about all sorts of things, and Yangyang would tease other people with his help. He loved them too, just as much as Taeyong did.

The realization that Johnny loved Taeyong came on the fifth time. That day, he hadn’t even really had an ‘event’ that Taeyong needed him to attend. He came over to Taeyong and Mark’s apartment, simply just because he wanted to make bread with them. A fun fact, Mark was absolutely horrible at making bread. The flour got all over everything, the counter, the cabinets, Taeyong’s face. They even had to try again because the first time Johnny dropped the dough on the tile floor. But by the end of it, the three were happily sitting on a couch, freshly baked bread on the (cleaned) counter, and smiles on their faces.

That’s when Johnny realized he loved Taeyong, for real.

+++

Taeyong figured out he loved Johnny, August 2nd at 3:30 pm. It was currently August 2nd at 4:00 pm, Taeyong trying to figure out how to tell Johnny that he had fallen in love with him.

Taeyong had caught Johnny standing outside a restaurant, away from the line of people waiting to get inside the popular place, turned away from the door. The two were with Haechan and Mark, celebrating Mark’s birthday at one of his favorite restaurants. They were waiting for their food, talking about whatever, when Johnny’s face lit up in remembrance and quickly slid out of the booth they were in to go outside. Taeyong had secretly followed him, just to make sure that he wasn’t ditching the celebration. But instead, Taeyong found Johnny calling his mother, wishing her a happy birthday and asking her about her day. 

Taeyong’s heart had fallen apart into a million rose petals at that moment.

Now, Taeyong was standing in front of the restaurant, already shooing Haechan off to his car while Mark was texting someone, waiting for his and Taeyong’s Uber. Johnny was waiting for the two to leave, making sure they were getting home safe before he went to his car, like when he drove Taeyong home. 

“Hey, Taeyong?” Taeyong snapped out of his thoughts and turned his head to look at Johnny, who was motioning Taeyong to stand closer to him.

“Yeah?” Taeyong said, close enough to Johnny to hold his hand. Johnny quickly took advantage of it, lacing his fingers with Taeyong’s painted nails. 

“I...uh…” Johnny paused. “God, I feel like a middle schooler.” 

Taeyong laughed. “Say it.” 

“I...like you.”

“Yeah, Johnny, I like you too. You know, aren’t we friends?” 

Johnny froze. “No, uh, Taeyong. I mean…”

Taeyong had a confused look on his face for a moment, before his eyes widened in realization. 

“Well then, I like you too.”

+++

**Author's Note:**

> title comes from the song make the most by lonr and h.e.r
> 
> thank you all for reading this! im sorry if it seemed poorly written or rushed, my mental health wasn’t doing the best around completing this fic but i still wanted to post it! 
> 
> thank you to johnyong fic fest for hosting this amazing fest and all your hard work! i also want to thank the prompter of this, and i hope you liked it! i also want to thank athena, who helped me with this fic by proofreading it and keeping me motivated! i love you!!
> 
> have an amazing day/night everyone, and don’t forget to drink some water!


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